About Us
The Cotton Pickin’ Squares is Memphis’ only gay square dance club. Actually, it is Tennessee’s only gay square dance club. We are a member of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs. Being a part of the IAGSDC means that we participate in “fly ins” and conventions with other gay square dance clubs across the country and even in other countries. So becoming a Cotton Pickin’ Square will introduce you to tons of new people in the Memphis area and the world.
The Cotton Pickin’ Squares is a high energy group that likes to have a good time. We dance to cool music, have no dress code, eat great food, and have a lot of fun and laughs.
So what do we do? Well, we dance! We typically spend Thursday evenings square dancing, but it’s not the same kind of square dancing you did back in school. This is much more fun! We have no dress code, so you can dress the part of a square dancer or you can wear pajamas. We don’t care, as long as you’re comfortable. We welcome people from all genders and lifestyles, even straight people!
Square dancing is a great workout. Where else can you burn so many calories while having so much fun with great people? (You could burn up to 400 calories an hour dancing!) We know what you’re going to say now. I can’t dance. Right? We’ve heard all of the excuses in the book. Most of us probably gave some of those same excuses when we first started. We’re here to teach you how to dance, so you don’t need to know anything. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re a horrible dancer. We’ll bet that you aren’t, and with our awesome caller/teacher, Todd Harris, you’ll be dancing like a pro in no time. You might say you have two left feet. That’s fine. We’ll teach you how to over come that too. You don’t even have to know your left from your right!
You don’t have to have a partner to get started dancing with us. We have plenty of guys and girls that would love to dance with you. If you already have a partner that’s ok too. A great thing about Cotton Pickin’ Squares is that you can decide if you want to dance as a male or a female; there are no traditional gender roles here!
Besides square dancing, the Cotton Pickin’ Squares meet up on a regular basis to do all kinds of other activities like, eat, go to movies, yard sales, eat, camp, kayak, shows, parties, eat, and tons of other fun stuff. We just participated in the Mid South Pride activities and had a great time. Hopefully some of you saw us there!! Our newest activity to try together is sky diving!
So what are you waiting for? Come and visit us and give square dancing a try. Even if you decide that square dancing isn’t for you, at the very least you’ll spend an evening trying something new and meeting new people. Most likely, however, you will have a great time. You will meet new people who will become your friends for life and you will have a blast doing it. So come on out one Thursday night. What have you got to lose?
Our Fearless Leaders
- Deb K. - President
- Open - V. President
- Peggy C. - Secretary
- Garry P. - Treasurer
- Sara G. - Member at Large
- Cathi H. - Club Jester
- Wayne V. - Club Chef
- Sonia G. - Webmaster
- Club Caller - Todd Harris